Event Structure and
Metaphor
Srini Narayanan
snarayan@icsi.berkeley.edu
CS182/CogSci110/Ling109
Spring 2006
General and Domain Knowledge

Conceptual Knowledge and Inference
 Embodied
 Language and Domain Independent
 Powerful General Inferences
 Ubiquitous in Language
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Domain Specific Frames and Ontologies
 FrameNet,

OWL ontologies
Metaphor links domain specific to general
 E.g.,
France slipped into recession.
Conceptual Metaphor Provides
Embodied Reasoning For Abstract
Concepts
Virtually all abstract concepts (if not all) have conventional
metaphorical conceptualizations — normal everyday ways
of using concrete concepts to reason systematically about
abstract concepts.
Most abstract reasoning makes use of embodied
reasoning via metaphorical mappings from concrete to
abstract domains
What Are Conceptual Metaphors?
In NTL, conceptual metaphors are structured
connectionist “maps” — circuits linking concrete source
domains to abstract target domains.
In the fit of NTL to Neuroscience, such metaphorical
maps would be neural circuits in the brain
linking sensory-motor regions to other regions.
We claim therefore that, in such cases, the sensorymotor system is directly engaged in abstract reasoning.
Metaphorical Grasping
There is a conceptual metaphor, Understanding Is Grasping,
according to which one can grasp ideas.
One can begin to grasp an idea, but not quite get a hold of it.
If you fail to grasp an idea, it can go right by you — or over your
head!
If you grasp it, you can turn it over in your mind.
You can’t hold onto an idea before having grasped it.
In short, reasoning patterns about physical grasping can be
mapped by conceptual metaphor onto abstract
reasoning patterns.
We use metaphors everyday
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The council attacked every weak point of his proposal.
I don't know how to put my thoughts into words.
I've been feeling quite depressed of late.
"Washington remains stuck in talks with Russia and
France over the failure to secure a second U.N.
resolution"
My summer plans are still up in the air.
I see what you mean.
Something smells fishy, but I can't quite put my finger on
it.
What is the basis for
metaphors?
metaphor is understanding one thing in
terms of another
 specifically, we reason about abstract
concepts through our sensory-motor
experience.
 that means we have:

 correlation
 inference
Metaphors, defined
Formally, metaphors are mappings from a
source domain to a target domain
 both the source and target domains are
structured by schemas and frames
 Take a simple example:

I've been feeling quite depressed of late.
( Happy is Up; Sad is Down )
SCHEMA Happiness
SUBCASE OF Emotion
SCHEMA Verticality
SUBCASE OF Orientation
ROLES
Degree
ROLES
Scale
MAP HappyIsUpSadIsDown
map-type <- METAPHOR
tgt src
PAIRS
How are these metaphors
developed?

Conflation Hypothesis:
Children hypothesize an early meaning for
a source domain word that conflates
meanings in both the literal and
metaphorical senses
 experiencing
warmth and affection when
being held as a child
 observing a higher water level when there's
more water in a cup
A few primary metaphors

The conflation hypothesis works for
metaphors that have an experiential basis,
i.e. primary metaphors
 Affection
Is Warmth
 Important is Big
 Categories are Containers
 Knowing is Seeing
 Time Is Motion
Affection is Warmth
Subjective Judgment: Affection
 Sensory-Motor Domain: Temperature
 Example: They greeted me warmly.
 Primary Experience: Feeling warm while
being held affectionately.

Important is Big
Subjective Judgment: Importance
 Sensory-Motor Domain: Size
 Example: Tomorrow is a big day.
 Primary experience: As a child, important
things in your environment are often big,
e.g., parents, but also large things that
exert a force on you

Categories are Containers
Subjective Judgment: Perception of Kinds
 Sensory-Motor Domain: Space
 Example: Are tomatoes in the fruit or
vegetable category?
 Primary Experience: Things that go
together tend to be in the same bounded
region

Knowing is Seeing
Subjective Judgment: Knowledge
 Sensory-Motor Domain: Vision
 Example: I see what you mean.
 Primary Experience: Getting information
through vision

Chris Johnson's Thesis

Predicts 3 stages of acquisition:
1. source domain word within the source domain
2. constructions that have double-meaning
3. constructions that are specific to the target domain

e.g.
“Can you see what’s in here?” (stage 2)
“I see what you mean” (stage 3)
Time is Motion
Subjective Judgment: The passage of time
 Sensory-Motor Domain: Motion
 Example: Time flies.
 Primary Experience: Experiencing the
passage of time as one moves or
observes motion

Dual Metaphors for Time
1.
Time is stationary and we move thru it

The finals are just around the corner.
 Don't look back on what you have done.
2.
Time is a moving object

My spring break went by so quickly.
 Come what may.
Another Time Metaphor

Time AS A Resource
 This
method will save time.
 Time is money.
 She's wasting her time.
 How long do we have to wait?
 Use your time well.
 He is making up for lost time
Complex Metaphors
Complex metaphors combine a number of
primary metaphors
 Examples:

 Event
Structure Metaphor
 Metaphors of Ideas
Event Structure Metaphor

Here were some sentences we saw last week:
 Day
by day, we are moving closer to victory.
 US forces ready to resume final push into Baghdad.
 US Economy on the verge of falling back into
recession after moving forward on an anemic
recovery.
Event Structure Metaphor
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States are Locations
Changes are Movements
Causes are Forces
Causation is Forced Movement
Actions are Self-propelled Movements
Purposes are Destinations
Means are Paths
Difficulties are Impediments to Motion
External Events are Large, Moving Objects
Long-term, Purposeful Activities are Journeys
ESM (1)

States are Locations
 I'm
in oblivion.
 They're so in love.

Changes are Movements
 He
finally got out of his depression.
 She went crazy.
ESM (2)
Causes are Forces
 Causation is Forced Movement

 That
incident pushed him over the edge.
 I was dragged into this project.
 The economy was brought to a halt.

Actions are Self-Propelled Movements
I
went ahead with the most obvious choice.
Entailments

Aids to Action are Aids to Motion
 It's

all downhill from here.
Manner of Action is Manner of Motion
 We're
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Careful Action is Careful Motion
 He

skipping right along.
is treading on thin ice.
Speed of Action is Speed of Motion
 Things
have slowed to a crawl.
ESM (3)
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Purposes are Destinations
 There's
a long way to go.
 We're going in circles.
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Purposeful Action is Self-Propelled Motion
To a Destination
 Don't
give up just yet. We're getting there.
 Work towards a better future.
Entailments
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Making Progress Is Forward Movement
Amount of Progress is Distance Moved
Undoing Progress is Backward Movement
Expected Progress is a Travel Schedule
Starting a Purposeful Action is Starting out on a Path
Achieving a Purpose Is Reaching The End of the Path
Lack of Purpose is Lack of Direction
Lack of Progress is Lack of Movement
ESM (4)
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Means are Paths
 However
you want to go about it is fine with
me.
 Do it this way
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Difficulties are Impediments to Motion
 He's
trying to get around the regulations.
 It's been a rough ride.
ESM (5)
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External Events are Large Moving Objects
Special Case 1: Things
 How're
things going?
 Things took a turn for the worse.
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Special Case 2: Fluids
 You
gotta go with the flow.
 I'm just trying to keep my head above water.
ESM (6)
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External Events are Large, Moving Objects
Special Case 3: Horses
 Keep
a grip on the situation.
 Don't let things get out of hand.
ESM (7)
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Long-term, Purposeful Activities are
Journeys
 Intermediate
purposes are intermediate
destinations
 Ultimate purpose is the ultimate destination
 Progress is movement towards a destination
 Achieving the purpose is reaching the ultimate
destination
Metaphors of Ideas/Mental
Entities
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Ideas are Living/Moving Entities
 The

ideas swam furiously in the inspector’s head.
Ideas are shared spaces/locations
 Shared

beliefs, common ground
Ideas are physical/manipulable entities
I
turned the idea over in my head.
 I pushed aside those memories.
 I finally grasped the idea.
Metaphors of Ideas
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Ideas are Possessions
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Ideas are Resources
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He inherited his ideas
I have a new idea
He ran out of ideas.
Let's pool our ideas.
We've used up all our ideas.
That's a useless idea
Ideas are external entities
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The idea took hold of me
I shied away from those memories
How about other abstract
concepts
Love
 Friendship
 Justice

Metaphors
for
Love
love-as-patient metaphor?
love-as-physical-force metaphor?
love-as-bond metaphor?
love-as-captive-animal metaphor?
love-as-commodity metaphor?
love-as-fire metaphor?
love-as-fluid-in-container metaphor?
love-as-hidden-object metaphor?
love-as-insanity metaphor?
love-as-journey metaphor?
love-as-magic metaphor?
love-as-natural-force metaphor?
love-as-nutrient metaphor?
love-as-opponent metaphor?
love-as-rapture metaphor?
love-as-unity metaphor?
love-as-war metaphor?
Examples
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They have a strong, healthy marriage. (patient)
They gravitated to each other immediately. (force)
She found love in all the wrong places. (hidden object)
He poured out his affections on her. (fluid in container)
She couldn't hold in her love for him any longer (fluid in
container)
She was overcome by love. (external force)
Love took complete control over him. (external force)
She pursued him relentlessly. (war)
He made an ally of her mother (war)
Metaphor and On-line
Processing
Is Metaphor purely a linguistic map or
does it play a role in on-line processing?
 Some initial data
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 People
don’t take more time to process
metaphoric senses of a word compared to
literal senses.
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But is the metaphor actually accessed in
processing?
Dual Metaphors for Time
1.
Time is stationary and we move thru it

The finals are just around the corner.
 Don't look back on what you have done.
2.
Time is a moving object

My spring break went by so quickly.
 Come what may.
Experiment on Time
Metaphors
Metaphoric structuring: understanding
time through spatial metaphor.
Lera Boroditsky
Cognition (75) 2000, 1-28
Ego Moving versus Time
Moving
Ego Moving and Object Moving
Spatial Primes
Do people use Spatial Metaphors
for time?
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First, participants answered several priming questions about spatial
relations of objects in pictures.
 These pictures used either the ego-moving or the object moving
spatial schemas.
Then, participants interpreted an ambiguous temporal statement
such as `Next Wednesday's meeting has been moved forward
two days'.
If the above statement is interpreted using the ego-moving schema,
then forward is in the direction of motion of the observer, and the
meeting should now fall on a Friday.
In the time-moving interpretation, however, forward is in the direction
of motion of time, and the meeting should now be on a Monday.
Hypothesis
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If space and time do share some relational structure,
then participants primed in the ego-moving spatial
perspective should thus think that the meeting will be on
Friday.
Participants primed in the object-moving perspective
should prefer the time-moving interpretation and think
that the meeting will be on Monday.
However, if the domains of space and time do not share
any relational structure, then spatial primes should have
no effect on the way participants think about time.
Results
PRIME
Meeting is
Monday
Meeting is
Friday
Ego Moving
26.7%
73.3%
Object
Moving
69.2%
30.8%
Results: Discussion
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So far, only the effect of spatial thinking on
thinking about time has been examined. But
what if the experiment was reversed?
Would making people think about time in a
particular way affect how they think about
space?
If the mapping is asymmetric (as proposed by
the Metaphoric View), then solving a problem
about time should necessarily access and prime
the appropriate way of thinking about space.
Experiment 2
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In Experiment 2 participants answered ambiguous questions about
spatial and temporal scenarios.
Each target question followed several prime questions that used
either the ego-moving schema or the object/time-moving schema.
For some of the participants, spatial primes preceded target
questions about time.
For others, temporal primes preceded target questions about space.
There were also two control groups for whom spatial primes
preceded spatial targets, and temporal primes preceded temporal
targets.
Temporal Primes and Target
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`On Thursday, Saturday is before us'), and
half employed the time-moving schema
(e.g. `Thursday comes before Saturday').
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Next Wednesday’s meeting has been
moved forward two days. Which day is it
now?
Ambiguous Spatial Target
Are there language specific effects
of metaphor
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Do different metaphor systems about time
lead to different conceptualizations?
Time expressions in English
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In English, we predominantly use front/back terms to talk
about time.
We can talk about the good times ahead of us or the
hardships behind us.
We can move meetings forward, push deadlines back.
On the whole, the terms used to order events are the
same as those used to describe asymmetric horizontal
spatial relations
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(e.g., ‘‘he took three steps forward’’ or ‘‘the dumpster is behind
the store’’).
Mandarin time expressions
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In Mandarin, front/back spatial metaphors for time
are also common(Scott, 1989).
Mandarin speakers use the spatial morphemes
qia´n (‘‘front’’) and ho`u (‘‘back’’) to talk about time.
Mandarin speakers also systematically use vertical
metaphors to talk about time (Scott, 1989). The
spatial morphemes sha`ng (‘‘up’’) and xia`
(‘‘down’’) are frequently used to talk about the
order of events, weeks, months, semesters, and
more.
Earlier events are said to be sha`ng or ‘‘up,’’ and
later events are said to be xia` or ‘‘down.’’
Question
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So, do the differences between the English and
Mandarin ways of talking about time lead to
differences in how their speakers think about
time?
This question can be expanded into
 Does
using spatial language to talk about time have
implications for on-line processing?
Lera Boroditsky’s experiment
Mandarin and English speakers were
asked to answer a spatial priming question
followed by a target question about time.
 The spatial primes were either about
horizontal spatial relations between two
objects or about vertical relations.
 After solving a set of two primes,
participants answered a TRUE/FALSE
target question about time.

 Is
March earlier than April
Results discussion
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English speakers were faster to verify that ‘‘March
comes earlier than April’’ after horizontal primes than
after vertical primes. This habit of thinking about time
horizontally was predicted by the preponderance of
horizontal spatial metaphors used to talk about time in
English.
The reverse was true for Mandarin speakers. Mandarin
speakers were faster to verify that ‘‘March comes earlier
than April’’ after vertical primes than after horizontal
primes. This habit of thinking about time vertically was
predicted by the preponderance of vertical time
metaphors in the Mandarin.